“We weren’t even ranked at the start of the season. Honestly, that made us want it more. We changed our training plan this summer, and a lot of the girls bought in. That made such a difference—suddenly we had this really cohesive top seven, even top ten group. We’ve been putting in more miles and workouts, and it’s starting to show.
Practice is a mix of encouragement and honesty. We cheer each other on, but we also point out the little things: swing your arms, take quicker steps, keep your head up. Greta gives these motivational speeches that somehow make you want to work harder, but also believe in yourself.
We’re running well, but we can keep getting better. We’re excited for conference, sections, and going to state is our goal. We talk about the teams we’ll face, like Highland Park. We only race them once before sections, so of course we’re talking about what we need to do to run well against them.
It feels different this year. We’re stronger than we’ve been in a long time. And honestly, we’d love to be the dark horse story—the team that wasn’t even ranked in the beginning, but came together, worked hard, and made it to state. That would be amazing.”